I would love to hear your guys' feedback as I am not sure how well I did at writing these personal relationships, Additionally, I am not sure I did great writing Natsu's anxiety and panick attacks, so feedback and comments are greatly appreciated. Besides that everything is going well, but as beta reader or co-writer would be greatly appreciated, though I hoped we have similar ideas for this fic.

Sincerely, The Muncher.

Chapter 9

Natsu's eyes shot open, them adjusting to the bright light while he looked around the environment that he had been taken to. The boy pushed himself to a sitting position, noticing the massive aches and pains in his muscles when he struggled to move. His thoughts were all a jumble, something about END, Zeref, the Eclipse Gate, Acnologia, and more swirled around, giving the boy a headache. He let out an exhausted sigh and went to lay back down. However, before he could, he felt a sudden weight flop onto him as he was met with a massive hug from the girl, who he had met just a few days ago, "Natsu! I thought you would never wake up!"

Natsu was confused and disoriented, having no idea what was going on. He looked around to absorb the environment and realized it was Thale's workshop, noticing the slightly scorched thatch roof and smell of metal wafting through the air. He gazed down to see Livi with her head on his chest, now looking up at him as she gave him a Natsu-like grin of her own. Natsu said cautiously, "W-What happened?" He brough his right arm up to his head to sooth the headache, only to scream in panic as he realized what had happened, "H-how… what… It was gone…" What was now in place of the bottom half of his right arm was a scaly replacement, silver and reflective with jagged points at the end of the scales, a deep maroon glow coming from between the interlocking metallic plates. The palm of his hand was a bronze hue with his fingers being finished off with black claws. The boy twirled his hand around, observing the changed appendage, and tracing the silver scales to gain familiarity with it. None-the-less, despite how alien it seemed, it felt like his own.

Livi held up her own scaly hand next to his, her dark black and red scales contrasting with Natsu's sliver ones, "Look, now we match!"

"Y-yeah… I guess so…" However, the apparent happy reunion was interrupted as Natsu started to cry, thinking of the fire dragon's last words to him, placing a hand in the center of his chest, now having a slight yellow glow to it, thinking to himself, One day I'll get that black dragon and that damn wizard.

Livi looked up at the crying dragon slayer and held his hand in hers, delicately clasping it into a fist, "Hey, what's wrong?" she could hear his heartbeat as his breathing accelerated, "Tell me what's wrong."

"Just… don't worry about it, I'm fine." He wiped the tears form his eyes, evidently not fine. To him, it felt like there were important things to think about, like what the hell was going on. How did he get to Thale's smithy. Last thing he remember was talking to Igneel, and before that… dying… and before that, something about the Eclipse Gate that he briefly heard from Anna while he was in his half-dead trance. He didn't know what to do. What had happened when he was talking to Igneel. Everything was going so fast. He felt lost. Where was Anna? Where were the rest of the dragon slayers? Why was he here?

"Hey, calm down, okay? Dad and I found you in odd circumstances but I'm sure we can figure everything out, right?" Placing one of her hands on the dragon slayer's shoulder, trying to give him a reassuring smile.

"But... but Igneel died there! How am I supposed to be calm when I couldn't even protect him. Also, Anna, what if that black dragon got her too?! He said he was going to get all of the dragon slayers! What about Wendy and Gajeel?! Sting and Rogue too!" His breathing quickened, taking short and quick breaths. All these thoughts were racing through the boy's head when he finally was taken from his trance when he felt a strange comforting warmth wash over him.

He looked over to see Livi slightly warming the dragon slayer in an effort to create a comforting environment, and giving a reassuring smile, "Hey, it's going to be fine, okay? Take things slow, I'm sure Anna and the other dragon slayers are fine, I would have at least heard something if there was another attack from Acnologia recently, right?" She rested a hand on his shoulder, "Hey, lean on someone else for a change, right?"

Natsu scratched the back of his head as his breathing slowed, "Y-yeah…" Livi's reassuring logic reminded him of Anna.

However, the two were broken from their moment by the purgatory dragon's gruff voice, "Hey, kid. I think we should get caught up, why don't we?" The older dragon staring sternly at Natsu, who slightly gulped.

3 hours later…

Natsu was reeling from all the information he had just been told. Apparently, what had happened with the Eclipse Gate was a long-awaited plan by Anna and his brother Zeref to send Wendy, Gajeel, String, and Rogue, and himself into the future. It was a plan devised to destroy Acnologia with dragon slayers powered by the high concentration of a newly discovered magic particle called Ethernano, what causes magic to function properly. Apparently that magic particle was discovered by his brother and was one of the main reason his resurrection was possible, hence the name Etherious. He told Thale about what had happened at the cave with Igneel, about END, about Acnologia, and the meeting he had in what felt like a sort of purgatory with Igneel before he awoke at the smithy.

"So how long has it been since I was out?" Asked the boy in a depressed tone.

"Well, the eclipse was July 7th, and it's July 15th, so about a week. Your fight with Acnologia caused quite a stir even over here, so a bunch of search parties were sent out and that's when we found you." Replied the older dragon as he let out a sigh. How did he get himself into this situation, taking care of yet another dragon. "Luckily, as far as the royal guard knows, there were no survivors of that fight."

Natsu started to panic again. He still had no idea how he had lived besides his meeting with Igneel, "But I died! How am I still alive?! I met with Igneel… and then… and then…" Natsu grabbed his head again as he tried to recall the events. It was starting to become a muddy mess of different situations, no obvious chronological order. He started to shake as he began to panic, thinking through the different scenarios. Was he just left in the past? Would he ever see Anna and the other dragon slayers again?

Livi interjected, "Hey, we can't figure this stuff out unless we keep track of events and your thoughts organized." She held the dragon slayer's hand in her own, giving a reassuring grasp.

"But, what about the eclipse?! I must get back to them! How will their plan work if they only have four dragon slayers?" Natsu clasped his hands together as he started hyperventilating again, "Will little Wendy be okay? How will she stay out of trouble? What about String and Rogue?! They're barely five years old." Natsu swung his legs over the edge of the cot and pushed himself to his feet, "I have to get to the eclipse gate to be back with them!"

"Hey!" Thale yelled as he pushed Natsu to sit back down, "Look, kid, the truth isn't great, but there is no way to go through the Eclipse Gate. The next eclipse is not for another five years at least and then you will need a celestial spirit mage to open the gate, which there are very few of, and the ones you find may not even be able to open the gate anyways." He let out a sigh, "You need to take some time to cool off and wait a little, organize yourself. I'm sure that if you're still here there is a reason, whether it was Zeref or fate that decided so."

Natsu took a few long deep breaths, "Ok… okay… I got it…" He rested his hands on his thighs and hung his head low, thinking about what was going on, finally being steady enough to organize these thoughts properly.

Thale stood up, however, before he left, he knelt down so he was looking his daughter in the eye, "Livi, make sure he stays out of trouble, got it? He does not know too much about the current state of things, so keep him safe."

Livi gave her dad a hug and said, "Yeah! Got it!" and did her best to give Thale a reassuring smile.

"Yeah, I know you do." Thale stood up and patted Livi on the head before walking out of the room.

Livi ran over to Natsu and grabbed his hand, pulling him along with her, "Hey, we have time on our hands, right? Five years at least, so may as well take your mind off things! Come on!"

Natsu took a deep breath before forcing a smile onto his face, following after the black-haired girl, "Yeah!" He ran out the door, "And I'm starving, so let's get some food!" And so, the two started on their little journey together, Natsu learning about the world outside of his little bubble with Igneel and the small beginning of a legend.

February, x379…

A pink haired boy ran through a snow-filled the forest, chasing after his 'dinner' which was just an elk that ran away as the small fie mage shot blasts of magic at it, "Get back here!" Natsu jumped in the air and attempted to land a flaming axe kick on the elk, however the animal was rather nimble and unpredictable for the young dragon slayer. He stopped running and hunched over, placing his hands on his knees and taking deep breaths, "Hunting regular things is too hard!" His training with Igneel was specifically designed for killing dragons, so it was not doing him any favors. His fighting style was designed for large opponents, doing one attack and then making distance, not this endurance chase he was doing.

However, just as Natsu was going to get back to his pursuit he hard, "Perfect!" As a spear came from out of his vison, hitting the elk squarely in the side and puncturing it all the way through, pinning the helpless animal to a tree. Who had thrown the spear was Livi, wearing thick winter clothes to protect her from the cold as she was still not great at warming herself with her dragon magic. She had cut her hair shorter into a slightly long pixie cut so it did not get in the way of fighting which gave her a tom-boy look. She trekked through the snow towards the downed animal; however, her footsteps somehow made no sound. She walked over to the animal carcass and pulled out the javelin, swinging it in the air to get the blood to come off, staining the pure white snow. She walked over to Natsu and said in a playful tone, "Thanks for being bait!"

"Hey! I wasn't bait! I was just… getting it towards you! Y-yeah, that's it." Natsu said as he puffed out his chest, trying to seem important.

Livi thought to herself and giggled, Whatever you want to tell yourself.

He was now 14-years-old, standing a bit taller than he did two years ago and sported some more muscle definition, but he was still the same Natsu with his characteristic pink hair. He walked over to the body of the fallen animal and dug his claws on his right hand into its flesh, the small amount of blood staining the bandages he had wrapped around his scale-covered arm to hide it from view. He hoisting the massive creature onto his shoulders, "You know, we make a pretty good team, huh?"

"We sure do, you're the smash and I'm the grab." She set her backpack down and took a swig from her canteen, letting out a satisfied breath which created a soft fog in the wintry air, "But we better get back soon before dad gets worried. Also, we still have to train." She gave him a slightly menacing grin. During these past few years, she had been working on hand-to-hand combat, as sure, she had super human strength, but her magical abilities were hardly up to where they needed to be so she figured she would advance her fighting ability. As such, she had been training Natsu, who had no idea about how to fight humans besides, 'Punch really hard', which would only work until he met someone stronger than himself.

"Yeah, yeah, I get it." He groaned. Livi was brutal with training, and he still needed to help Thale at the smithy. He strutted through the snow, in contrast to Livi, creating loud crunches as his feat broke the half-ice layer that formed on the surface. However, despite his apparent happy demeanor, he had a stern look on his face. He had been doing his best to collect the celestial keys, hoping to one day go to the future if he could unlock the gate.

The two began to walk back towards their dwelling that they had been staying together at for the past two years, and bond developing between the two that was almost inseparable. Livi looked over, making a bit of a sad face. Natsu always seemed half-lost in her eyes, never the same after that day two years ago. She had grown attached to his presence, and the next eclipse was only a few years away, but Natsu's mind seemed to already be there, not thinking about the present but always in the future.

They soon arrived back at the workshop, Natsu setting down the elf carcass on a large stone slab, Livi grabbing a butcher knife and twirled it in the air before slicing it down through the animal's neck, the head falling clean off. She looked towards the young dragon slayer, "I'll take care of carving this up, you go meet with dad." Livi was responsible for cooking in their family, both Thale and Natsu being completely inept in the area, one having to eat very sparsely to maintain himself due to a magic powered dragon body and the other thinking that lighting something on fire counts as cooked.

Natsu set down his bag in a corner and said in a playful tone with a hint of concern, "Make sure not to cut yourself." Livi let out a chuckled as Natsu walked towards the forge room, and bright orange glow emanating from the door. Natsu pushed the huge metal slab aside and walked in, the heat from the forge blasting him the face. He looked at Thale smashed his hammer into a block of steel, sparks flying everywhere and the sound ringing across the small space. Natsu yelled towards the older dragon, "Livi said you needed me?"

Thale stopped his work and wiped the sweat from his brow, "Yeah, Natsu." The two had grown a bit closer, Thale being a mentor for Natsu when the elder dragon taught Natsu about the forge. It worked especially well since Natsu's fire dragon slayer magic gave him a similar affinity for metal craft that the purgatory dragon had. "I need you to take these into town and set them up at my shop." Handing Natsu a bag full of armor pieces and sheathed weapons.

Natsu grabbed the sack and walked towards the dge of the room and yelled back, "Yeah, I'll take care of it, old man!" Natsu was a bit disappointed, he had wanted to learn more.

"I ain't that old yet!" Yelled Thale in annoyance, "I'll need your help making some work as well, so make sure to come back. If you sell anything, don't let people low ball you!" As Thale once again smashed his hammer into the piece of metal.

"You got it!" Yelled Natsu back. He walked out of the force and headed towards town, giving Livi one final goodbye as he wouldn't be back until later that evening. The boy clutched a key on his hip, this being a gold key that sported the symbol for Aquarius on it. The key was the most important to Anna and he was lucky enough to find it the earliest. He always did this for Thale in hopes that someone in town would be selling or bartering away celestial keys for hopes of one day opening the Eclipse Gate. Natsu soon arrived at the shop, taking the pieces of armor out and setting them up on the racks, assembling the interlocking plates and matching set pieces. He unsheathed the weapons and set them up on hip-high racks in hope that the well-crafted blades would entice customers.

He went to the edge, sitting at a front counter as he tried to call people over, however a bit down the street he saw some commotion. A soldier was going in and out of houses and pulling people into the street, all seeming in a relatively young age range, however some were older. He used his dragon hearing to listen to what they were say, which had been obscured by the bustling crowd, "Anyone able-bodied men, ages twelve to fifty are being conscripted. Refusing to join or hiding someone is punishable by execution!" The royal family was getting desperate with this war.